HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Jan - 2011
Another exciting month with lots of developments.
Despite the wonderful time I'm having meeting so many delightful & friendly people and dancing my socks off ...... I'm really homesick for the first time in my life and ready for home. It doesn't help either when my friends in Portugal tell me things like "it was a warm & sunny 17 degrees today'" and "we sat outside in the sun for lunch yesterday". Me thinks they may have a slight malicious streak? Especially as we had one of the wettest winters on record for my first year in Portugal - 4 months of rain and not one day suitable for an outside lunch. Mona and Ben who are currently house sitting sent me some gorgeous photos they had taken & it really struck me just how lucky I was to live in such a special area.
I'm totally taken aback by the generosity of the dancing community. On a weekly basis I'm being offered help, teachers are giving me their time & experience, more dancers & teachers have booked their flights and I'm making the most wonderful friends through it all. It is quite extraordinary.
There were several 'firsts' this month:-
- I actually enjoyed a freestyle dance!!! Yeah & woopadeedooda!! I didn't have a false smile locked onto my face pretending that I wasn't in full throttle concentration mode. It was 100% genuine that I could truly dance with arms & legs working at the same time ....... what's more ..... I could even talk without everything coming to an abrupt stop. This is all thanks to Claire - she is just wonderful and one of the many people who have been absolute stars regards being supportive & so encouraging. A record was on that I loved to dance to and Claire just didn't give a hoot as to what happened. She just laughed & continued to dance no matter what. I had to learn to adjust my plans because she didn't always do what I had thought I'd led. So an excellent opportunity to practice the good etiquette of going with the flow of what happens - if a 'mistake' occurs just pick up as best you can & continue dancing. The other mantra that kept going through my head was "whatever happens, don't look surprised"!! Then people don't know that it wasn't what you had carefully planned!
- Learning the Beginners Moves was going quite well & for a daft moment I thought I'd have a go at the Intermediate Class. After a few seconds I thought "oh, my goodness" and nearly took off to my chair but Kirsty blocked that move & persuaded me to keep going! I'm so pleased she did. Thanks to her I stuck it out & survived to the end without imploding ....... or my brain bursting into flames when the system overloaded! Miracles do happen.
- First Tango lesson without resulting in the desire to throw myself off the nearest cliff. I had been well & truly put off by Tango when I did Ballroom. I found it a ridiculous dance at the time & wasn't into the dance style or the music which I found absolutely dire. So down & depressing. But things have changed a lot & Argentine Tango is so much better (in my humble opinion). The style is so much for interesting & the music more varied - even seen it done to more popular music with a Tango twist added. Much more to my liking. Can you tell I've been converted?
- Bought my first piece of equipment - an Ion Rocker something or other. It has a 12 hour lithium battery so will be great for dancing by the reservoir or demoing dance in the streets of Portugal.
- First African drumming lessons with Steve Rivers who is another highly skilled teacher. He has awesome skills at getting people to be totally uninhibited about having a go at something that is totally out of their comfort zone. Fun, VERY LOUD, & very challenging for my left & right brain co-ordination skills. My theory is that doing the drumming will help my ability to hear rhythms and improve my co-ordination. One can but live in hope eh?
- Contacted Portugal News which is a newspaper for Brits living in Portugal. It is nicknamed The Algarve News where we live in mid rural Portugal as the main content focus is for those living in The South - as if the rest of Portugal doesn't exist! But that is a bit unfair & lets face it most things DO actually happen down there or Lisbon. When I've been in touch before the person I spoke to was very friendly & helpful so they have lots of brownie points in my book. Anyway, I thought I'd get in touch regards writing an article or doing a press release. I was gobsmacked when I got a reply the same day saying yes. Must be a quiet week in the news. Not that I'm complaining. So I'd better get some info on how to do a Press Release.
- Booked a 1 to 1 lesson with Sue Freeman - it was wonderful to be able to spend some time with Sue & have the opportunity to chat with her a bit. In the classes she is of course very busy so there isn't much chance. Sue, being the amazing & patient person she is, actually got me to hear 'the 1' of a phrase of music. We did an exercise where I had to pass over a plastic lid on the 1. This sort of thing normally freaks me out & scares me to death (bad memories of music at school). So when I was able to do it much to my amazement (& Sue's I think) I had tears rolling down my face. I was so delighted & over the moon as it is something that has always eluded me. I used to feel so stupid at my lack of being able to hear or understand what I was supposed to be listening for. Crap teacher at school (I now realise) but at the time it can really effect how you perceive yourself & your potential abilities.
- My first Blues lesson was with a teacher who is second in command to a Bishop somewhere in the country. He also happens to be a DJ who specialises in Blues music. Still not sure if it was a wind up or not. Anyway, I enjoyed the lesson & he was happy to do a potted version of the lesson for me on video which was great. It kind of amused me the thought of him seeing to his parishioners & then saying "won't be around this evening. Off to do a spot of Blues Djing & teaching".
Several things happened on this Blues evening. I was introduced to Cheryl who is a Le Roc Federation. examiner. I introduced myself to her & did a bit of 'Dancing In Portugal' promoting. Then to my absolute horror she suggested I dance with her as a 'lead'. I confess ........ I totally wimped out! I would have been SO embarrassed. It still feels like I can't remember a thing when on the dance floor. So Cheryl led me & it was a really slow track which seemed to go on forever. I always find dancing to slower music so challenging but it is getting easier.
- First 'stranger' books! Earlier in the week I met a delightful lady called Pam who came up to me, introduced herself and said "I'd like to help". There are some people you meet who you just know in an instant that they are going to be someone you are going to get on with & become good friends. What was amazing was that after a few chats & email exchanges ....... 10 days later she booked her flight to come over with her daughter. WOW. I was impressed.
All in all a packed month with a Musicality workshop by Steve Lambert thrown in for good measure. Don't ask me why but my blonde brain thought the workshop was going to be quite different to what it actually was. Somehow I assumed it was going to be more 'theory' based & more about actually understanding music. But in fact it was very practical. One of the things that hit home was to be more aware of 'how' you dance to each track according to the genre. In other words if you have a particular style of dancing don't do that to everything. Steve gave an example of someone who is a VERY good dancer who likes dancing to @*^^ type music & it looks great. BUT the guy dances like that to everything & it just doesn't look right when the track has a Salsa or other influence of music. Hence, once you are more experienced it is a good idea to change certain things like your frame, you hip / arm / head movements etc. Obvious really!! Steve said that observers should be able to tell what genre of music you are Modern Jiving to even if they can't hear the track of music.
PHOTOS - Top two photos courtesy of Kim Willis (Marvao area). Bottom photo - taking 5 dogs & 2 sheep for a walk down the lane!
